Guess Who's Turning 3?!!

Yep.  It's Joshie!  My baby is 3 years old today.  (He's still getting used to putting that third finger up.)  Feels like yesterday when my Joshua Dean was placed into my arms.  He was born in Murray, Utah at Cottonwood Hospital.  The c-section happened at 8:28am on Thursday, July 26th, 2007.  He was 9 lbs. even and 21" long.    

We all adored him from the start.  Emma and Ben couldn't get enough of their little brother.

It's amazing to see how much he has grown these past 3 years.

Josh is my sweet little angel.  He was by far my easiest baby, great nurser, slept well from the beginning, rarely cried.  I didn't think such babies existed, until I had Josh.  He is my content and happy guy, unless he's not feeling well and has an ear infection.  He loves getting Emma and Ben to laugh at him, although he doesn't like to be the center of attention.

Josh LOVES sweets.  We have a "treat drawer" and all the kids know they get to choose one thing out of there after lunch and dinner.  Well, Josh seems to think that rule doesn't apply to him and often I have found an empty KitKat wrapper on the table (yes, he knows how to open them), or I see him chewing a half stick of gum, or face covered with oreo or pop tart crumbs, or carrying around a sticky ring pop.  Jake keeps telling me I should move the treats to higher ground but I keep thinking this phase has got to end sooner than later, right?  Maybe not.

It's no surprise that potty training is my most unfavorite part of parenting.  I'm just going to say it, Ben was a nightmare.  Emma was a little better, but still had issues for quite awhile after she "got it."  I really, really, REALLY was not looking forward to going through the process with Josh.  Don't get me wrong, I yearned for the days of three kids wiping their own bums, but the process it takes to get them that way is no picnic.  Thankfully, Josh broke the mold and defied expectations.  He was a Potty Training Rockstar.  I wrote a whole post about it HERE.  He is still doing great 4 months later.  In fact, I can't even remember the last time he wet the bed.  Crazy.  Sorry all you moms out there, he's mine.  Go find your own Golden Child. ;)

Josh loves balls.  It doesn't matter what kind, shape, or size.  Balloons count too... and might even be a tad higher on the "awesome" scale for him.  He seems to favor his left hand when he throws which excites Jake a little bit, thinking we might have a future left-handed pitcher on our hands.  He is pretty dang coordinated for a little guy and can almost out-kick his siblings (shh... don't tell them that!)  HERE is a video of Josh at 18 months, showing his love of balls.

We love our Joshie and are so glad he's in our family.  We wouldn't feel complete without him!